Dick Cheney is back, and Democrats should be thrilled: PennLive letters

Just as the Democrats seemed to be stumbling in the midterm congressional elections and President Barack Obama's ratings on foreign policy are dipping, Dick Cheney came out from under his rock to remind us how his administration tricked us into invading Iraq and to call for a reprise.

We are treated to the grim reminder of the ex-vice president's false pronouncements eleven years ago that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction.

Cheney shows no shame as he justifies the Iraq invasion and calls for us to go back and do it again. He boasts that the Bush-Cheney administration had a strong enough military to fight wars on two fronts —­ Iraq and Afghanistan — though conveniently neglects to mention the trillion dollar plus debt amassed by the venture. By comparison, he chides Obama for a seemingly weak military response to the current turmoil in Iraq.

So if Cheney and his neo-con cohorts can become the Republican standard bearers in the forthcoming elections, what better news for Democrats? Cheney's dark, scowling presence becomes a symbol for a Republican party that wants to go back to the good old days of the useless massive sacrifice of human lives and treasure. By contrast, Obama, with Democratic support, is carefully navigating us out of the morass of Middle Eastern sectarian civil wars.